Word: buscemi
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What are the similarities between Dante Alighieri and Steve Buscemi? First time writer and director Hue Rhodes may be the only one. Loosely based on Dante’s “Inferno,” “Saint John of Las Vegas” follows a reformed gambler’s trip to his own personal “hell” as he is led on his first investigation of insurance fraud. However, though the performances are uniformly strong, only viewers who are already deeply familiar with Dante’s poem will be able to understand...
...Steve Buscemi plays John Alighieri, a quirky and uncomfortable man fighting a gambling addiction and moving up through the ranks of a mundane insurance agency. When he finally works up the courage to ask his boss (Peter Dinklage) for a raise, he instead offers him a shot at investigating the potential fraud of a stripper named Tasty Delight (Emmanuelle Chriqui...
Though the film overall feels choppy and nonsensical, there is certainly entertainment value to be found in the characters and their misadventures. Steve Buscemi delivers yet another excellent performance, imbuing John with a quirky yet weary demeanor. Romany Malco, known for his role in “The 40 Year Old Virgin,” makes Virgil perfectly indignant and mysterious, mocking John more than helping him. The two have excellent on-screen chemistry, and convincingly play off each other with sarcastic...
...From there the movie begins a backwards loop to explain how John, who claims to have been lucky once, came to this unlucky point, a problematic storytelling tactic if you've cast Buscemi in the lead. We completely expect him to be a semi-hysterical mess standing under the unflattering glow of fluorescent lights. He was perfectly cast as Templeton the rat in Charlotte's Web and as Tony Soprano's shiftless, foolish cousin in The Sopranos. Not to mention Carl Showalter, aka, the wood-chipper victim, in Fargo. But a fondness for the actor keeps us attentive to writer/director...
...works, and the flaming man's relative optimism that such a dilemma can be sat out sticks with you. Other than that, Saint John of Las Vegas is one of those shaggy-dog stories that you keep hoping will get sharper, smarter, cooler, more worthy of its star. Buscemi may not be exactly celestial, but he still deserves better...